Session T19: Fluid Dynamics-Education Outreach and Diversity

A New Course: Navier-Stokes Equations with a Historical Perspective

A new class was developed at the University of Florida within the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering called the Navier-Stokes equations. The goal of the course is to explain contemporary challenges and state-of-the-art analysis for students in engineering and mathematics. The course covers Navier-Stokes equations, history, derivation, physical meaning, classical solutions, stability, dynamical systems, existence, uniqueness, regularity, scales, ladder results, dissipation rates, Serrin's blowup, capacitary approaches, mild solutions (Lebesgue, Sobolev, Besov, Morrey, BMO, Koch, Tataru), weak solutions, stochastics, the Russian school, and invariant measures. Student assessment is conducted via analysis assignments, term papers, and a presentation on a topic of their choice. Feedback from students and progress on making the course publicaly available are presented. The course makes available freely a 1,768 page PDF handout with 2,004 unique equations and 92 historical figures.   

Fluid mechanics education using a mixed reality approach

We use propose the use of immersive technologies as a pedagogical method for teaching fluid dynamics; these technologies promote the visualisation of ‘hard-to-grasp’ scenarios. In this talk, we present a new mixed reality-based pedagogic approach using Microsoft HoloLens 2 and Dynamics 365 Guides comprising a three-step cycle. The first step involves "Presentation" of the teaching materials in the form of a holographic video and instructions. The second is related to "Holographic Visualisation" of 3D CFD simulations presented with visual learning aids. The final step involves “Reflection”:  feedback activities to demonstrate the concepts learned. To illustrate this approach, we focus on a fixed number of scenarios of generic importance, e.g., flow past a bluff body, rising bubbles in unconfined geometries. We demonstrate adaptive and flexible mixed reality pedagogies to encourage active engagement, improve learning outcomes and retention.   

Dynamic Tracking and Visualization of Thanks-Giving Flows in the Classroom

Gratitude may seem like an abstract entity; and yet, within any diverse, inclusive, and welcoming community, gratitude "flows" just like a fluid (or, at least, certain kinds of fluid). In this work, we discuss an educational activity that we have developed, suitable for an undergraduate course in fluid mechanics or computational science, which introduces simple principles of network analysis and graph theory. This activity focuses on driving (and subsequently tracking and visualizing) "flows" of thanks-giving between students in a course, based upon intellectual, emotional, and social contributions to the classroom environment. Though this activity is conceptually straightforward, it features several opportunities to reinforce useful mathematical, physical, and computational learning objectives, especially in the areas of transport and linear algebra. Moreover, this activity encourages students to center an ethic of conscientious gratitude, reaffirms the importance of emotional intelligence alongside intellectual development, and interweaves several timely and timeless "out-of-the-classroom" themes. We discuss several unexpected educational benefits from carrying out this activity in two college-level courses. As a concluding note, we emphasize that despite its superficial similarities with a fluid, gratitude is subject to neither conservation of "mass" nor conservation of "momentum," a fact for which we should all be thankful.   

Educating About Creativity Feynman Style

Creativity is a learnable part of solving unique fluid dynamics and other challenges, ranging from undergraduate education to fundamental research. Practising scientists require creativity for discovery through experimental or computational design, interpretation of results, and development of successful theory. Yet it is often a supervisor's lament that there are no original ideas forthcoming from their students or employees. We discuss creativity enhancement lessons learned in general, from personal interaction with Nobel-prizewinning physicist Richard Feynman at Caltech, and from his writings. Insights into his habits and beliefs for the generation of creative ideas are presented.  The intent is to help those who wish to educate about creativity improvement, and begin a dialogue on how to inspire and share the skill.   

Not Participating

The utilities that Virtual Reality (VR) software offer are largely unused within the field of fluid mechanics. Conventional scientific visualization softwares display complex three-dimensional flow fields onto two-dimensional supports (e.g. monitors, screens and TVs). However, intricate topological structures that may be present in flow fields, such as vortex tubes and coherent structures, are easily obscured when projected on a 2D-plane making the discovery of flow mechanics more challenging. In addition to its potential as a new visualization approach, the sensory engaging nature of VR offers new opportunities for experiential learning with K-12 students, promotion of STEM education related to fluid mechanics, and training of young researchers. In this project, a render pipeline was established that can port visualized datasets from well known softwares such as ParaView and VisIt into VR. The developed render pipeline only takes a short amount of time to implement and should never present any hassle to its users. We use this pipeline to visualize in VR simulations of a particle-laden turbulent channel flow at friction Reynolds number 180. This pipeline is used to visualize the streamwise velocity field and the Lagrangian spherical particles, which preferentially accumulate near the walls owing to turbophoresis. Compared to visualizations on traditional 2D platforms, VR makes flow inspection significantly more intuitive thanks to the possibilities of whole-body interactions such as scaling and rotating the 3D models with hand gestures, and close examination by physically leaning into the model and walking around it. As part of this presentation, a prerecorded video will be played for the audience.   

Training students to close the Wikipedia gender gap

With over 14 billion views each month, Wikipedia is one of the most visited websites in the world. English language Wikipedia counts almost 6.5 million pages that are constantly being improved by volunteer editors worldwide. While anyone can edit Wikipedia, only about 20% of editors self-identify as female. Who edits Wikipedia matters: articles related to topics traditionally considered of interest to women are less well-covered and only about 18.5% of biographies are about women. In recent years, concerted efforts have been successful at reducing the so-called "Wikipedia gender gap," but change is slow occurring due to a complex interplay of factors, including technological barriers, time commitment, and confrontational editing environments. Digital native, enthusiastic, and socially engaged undergraduate students have the potential of becoming the next generation of Wikipedia editors. Training students to edit Wikipedia and hosting Edit-a-thons empowers them to take part in this form of science activism. In this talk, I will discuss initiatives focused on reducing the Wikipedia gender gap developed at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in collaboration with the Gordon Library on campus.   

An illustrative example of the symbiosis between community outreach and internal science-communication training

Effective community-targeted science outreach requires well trained science communicators. In this talk, we present a self-sustaining model where graduate students train each other in science communication by developing hands-on workshops, which they deliver to local school children. This model gives the graduate students the experience of giving/receiving targeted feedback to/from their peers as the graduate students develop workshop curricula based on their research or interests. In order to communicate effectively with their audience of middle and high school students, the graduate students are encouraged to make their workshops interactive and experiential, but also interrogative and reflective. The program culminates in a day when local students visit the college campus and engage in a selection of the workshops. Overall, the presenters develop their science communication skills while helping their peers develop theirs and ultimately employ these skills in the service of the community.   

Developing Hands-on Simulation Based Active Learning Modules for Teaching Fluid Flow Concepts

Active learning approaches have steadily gained prominence in the engineering classroom, with demonstrated efficacy in promoting student understanding of conceptual material. Several efforts have been outlined for employing active learning approaches in fluids education. However, recent pivot to online education prompted by the pandemic has presented unforeseen challenges in retaining active learning in virtual classrooms. Further, extended logistics and resource requirements for developing learning materials are often key barriers to adoption for active learning. Here, we present examples illustrating simulation based learning modules as a viable modality of promoting active learning in fluids education. We present examples drawn from a computational fluid dynamics class and a biological fluid mechanics class. We show that carefully designed simulation based modules can be devised in a resource optimal manner, and can be effective not only in cases where simulations naturally form core learning goals (e.g. CFD in our examples) but also otherwise (e.g. biofluids for our case). Specific design process details will be discussed. Multiple examples of such simulation based modules will be presented, accompanied by aspects of student response and feedback.   

Using Concept Maps in a Thermo-Fluids Design Course

In many practical applications, the topics of thermodynamics, fluids, and heat transfer are intricately connected. However, many students are exposed to these subjects in standalone courses; hands-on thermo-fluids labs may follow these courses in many programs. Students’ ability to interconnect these concepts is seen as a critical skill, particularly tackling real-world problems. Concept maps are valuable tools for conveying information and organization about a specific topic and have been used for assessment purposes. Concept maps were used to investigate students’ understanding of the interconnectedness of thermodynamics, fluids, and heat transfer topics in a 4^th-year thermo-fluids design lab for mechanical engineering undergrads. Following a series of guided experimental labs, students were tasked with designing a setup to measure a thermo-fluid-related property experimentally. For each lab and the design project, they were asked to draw concept maps individually. This study points to opportunities for identifying students’ misconceptions and a need to address the connections between these topical areas earlier in students’ exposure.   

An Undergraduate Naval Science & Technology Certificate

Although the University of Iowa has a long history of Navy-sponsored graduate research, it has only recently introduced a similar undergraduate curriculum.  The new curriculum is in the form of an 18-credit Naval Science & Technology certificate, which students can earn by completing topical electives as part of their undergraduate degrees.  Because the certificate is offered by a small mechanical engineering program at a midwestern university, there are numerous challenges associated with establishing both the program and its brand recognition, which will be discussed.  The curriculum focuses primarily upon the areas of experimental and computational naval hydrodynamics, control, and autonomous marine systems to draw upon existing departmental areas of strength. In addition to the curriculum, a student organization within the College of Engineering has been established, which participates in international competitions through the design and construction of an autonomous boat.  The curriculum and student organization are therefore very well aligned in their technical foci, and have the potential for a highly synergistic relationship.  This relationship, as well as general interest in and impact of the program are assessed using surveys and instructor evaluations.   

Not Participating

Turbulent flows are typically characterized by a wide range of space and time scales, and they are difficult to understand for undergraduate and junior postgraduate students. We introduce our visualization system built to help students intuitively understand complex turbulent flows through three-dimensional animation. The visualization system mainly consists of a surface projector, a curved surface screen, and 3d glasses. The animations of the turbulent flows are produced using the software VisIT, which is a tool for visualization and animation. We will show some typical turbulent flows, such as isotropic turbulent flows, turbulent channel flows, turbulent flows over periodic hills, and turbulent flows over wind farms. The visualization system produces impressive animations and shows the details of the three-dimensional flow structures, thus significantly helping students intuitively understand the complex flow phenomena.